


In Hindsight

by Sethrine



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Adorable, F/M, Fluff, Post-Pacifist Route, Reader Is Not Frisk, Sneaky Skeleton, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-03
Updated: 2015-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-04 18:09:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,391
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5343560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sethrine/pseuds/Sethrine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was bound to happen, eventually. You just didn't expect it to happen so soon.</p>
<p>More specifically, that afternoon.</p>
<p>He had planned the whole thing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In Hindsight

**Author's Note:**

> I already got my angsty one-shot out of the way, now have some extreme fluff to satisfy that sweet-tooth!
> 
> Warning for absolute adorableness ahead.

In hindsight, it was bound to happen, eventually, you just hadn't been prepared for it to happen so soon. Specifically, late that afternoon before anyone else made it home. 

The day started out mostly normal. Well, as normal as a house full of Monsters could start out as. After your late night shift at work, you walked into Toriel's warm, inviting home to an early morning cooking lesson between Undyne and Papyrus, a lesson that normally took place on a Wednesday but somehow got pushed back to Friday. Frisk, who was finishing up a pile of blueberry pancakes no doubtedly made by Toriel before the cooking lesson began, was sat at the dining room table in their pyjamas, smiling as they watched the commotion in the kitchen. Your entrance, however, had pulled the child's gaze to settle on you. Tiredly, you gave a soft smile and a small wave. 

"Hey, kiddo," you greeted sweetly, watching Frisk's smile turn into a grin as they pulled away from the table and ran to you with outstretched arms. You laughed aloud at the tight embrace of short arms around your middle. Frisk was always in such a bright mood, and their hugs were so genuinely comforting that it was hard not to perk up a bit. 

"I'm guessing Tori already left this morning?" you questioned, giving another glance around to find that, no, the motherly Monster was nowhere around, nor was there any indication that she currently was. Thinking back, you remembered her saying something about a meeting she had to attend before the start of the school day, so it was possible she had left a bit earlier than normal to make it on time. Frisk confirmed your theory with a nod of their head not but a moment later. It would explain why Undyne and Papyrus had postponed their cooking lesson until today. 

"C'mon, Papyrus, put your backbone into it!" 

"That was absolutely TERRIBLE...unless you were being serious-" 

"Move over, ya dork! You gotta throw it harder, like this!" 

Speaking of the two exuberant Monsters.... 

"Well, how's about you go ahead and finish getting ready for school? I'll take care of the breakfast dishes." 

Frisk nodded once more before running up the stairs, and with a call to make sure to clean their face of any sticky syrup left behind, you made to clear the dining room table and face the chaos that had become Toriel's kitchen. 

 

 

Walking Frisk to school was mostly always a quiet journey, though it was never forced, nor was it uncomfortable. Sometimes, Frisk would hum a sweet little tune you had heard before, but couldn't remember where, as their little hand cradled in yours swung back and forth rhythmically. Sometimes, you would talk about anything, really, just to keep your tired mind more alert as you walked, Frisk attentive as ever to your every word. No matter how the journey to school went, however, it always ended with Toriel waiting patiently by the door with a bright smile in greeting. 

"Thank you, my child. I trust things went well this morning?" 

As well as ever," you replied, giving a small shudder as a chilly breeze blew past, "though I might have a bit of work cut out for me when I get back. Last I saw of the kitchen, there was flour everywhere. It's better than scorch marks on the walls, though there's always a possibility of those appearing before I get back." 

Toriel gave a small frown, though it didn't seem like it was because of the potential mess of her kitchen. 

"Perhaps it would be best for you to take a small nap beforehand," she said almost carefully, as if afraid she was crossing a line somehow. "You have been working awfully hard this week, and I am more that grateful for your help with Frisk in the mornings as well as the care you take in making sure our home stays, ah, _intact..._ " 

"I'll be fine, Tori," you assured with a wave of your hand. "Papyrus and Undyne usually do a pretty good job of cleaning up, I just like to double check some places. It shouldn't take me long. Besides, you have enough on your plate, and I'm more than willing to help where I can." 

Toriel's frown held for a moment longer before she finally relented with a soft sigh. 

"If you insist, though should you find yourself in need of rest, your room is always ready for you." 

Your smile was soft as you thought of the second guest bedroom that Frisk had proclaimed as yours with a cute little crayon-colored sign of your name on the wooden surface. You practically lived there more than your little appartment nowadays, as it was, yet to have the two of them consider you part of their little family made your heart glow with happiness. 

"Of course," you answered, this time earning a smile from Toriel. 

"Alright, now, off to class, Frisk! We do not want to be late, now do we?" 

Frisk shook their head vigorously at the possibility. With one final hug, the child shuffled into the building hurriedly with a chuckling Toriel following close behind, the goat-like monster bidding you farewell for the time being. 

The walk back seemed longer than before, though you guessed it was because of your tired mind, aching muscles, and increasingly chilled skin. Toriel was right; you had been working rather hard this week. With the holiday season underway, things were getting much busier, meaning more customers and longer hours to accommodate them. You were also filling in for a coworker who was out due to sickness, and you had even gone in a couple hours early on Tuesday to help count inventory. This didn't count the extra time you put into helping out Toriel and Frisk and any other Monsters of their extended family that passed through. 

At this point, you were running on fumes, but you weren't about to let exhaustion get in the way of the things you had set out to do. Besides, Toriel had enough to worry about at the moment; it wouldn't kill you to lend a helping hand where it was needed most. 

When you arrived back at Toriel's, the place was oddly empty, and the kitchen was, for the most part, cleaned up pretty well. There was a large pile of what looked like slightly crispy cookies on a platter beside the oven that actually looked decent enough to eat. Looking closer, there was also a note beside them in Papyrus' bold handwriting. 

_'DEAR QUEEN TORIEL AND HUMANS,_

_DO ENJOY THESE DELECTABLE COOKIES THAT UNDYNE AND I, MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS, HAVE COOKED UP ESPECIALLY FOR YOU. YOU MOST CERTAINLY WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED IN OUR LATEST CULINARY DELIGHT!!!_

_-GREAT MASTER CHEF PAPYRUS'_

You couldn't help but give a tired laugh at the cute little note and decided to try one of the cookies. They were chocolate chip, a little crispier around the edges than you preferred, and perhaps a little too much vanilla, but overall quite edible. 

Humming thoughtfully, you helped yourself to a few more and a glass of milk, having skipped breakfast in your rush to get there from work, as you worked on cleaning up any excess flour in places the other two Monsters hadn't thought to look. They really outdid themselves this time around, as there were very few spots that needed to be wiped up around some of the appliances placed on the counter. There was also a small splatter of what you assumed was egg on one of the walls and across the freezer door handle, and the floor needed to be reswept and mopped, but everything else was nice and clean. 

After washing out your cup and making sure the cookies were wrapped up, you then began looking around the house for anything else that needed to be done. Most everything was still tidy, as Toriel was a neat Monster by nature. Even Frisk's room was clean and organized, save for a few drawings scattered on the bedside table. The only thing that needed doing was folding the laundry; Toriel was several steps ahead of you and had already washed and dried what looked to be towels and a few bed clothes. 

It was as you made yourself comfortable on the couch, basket of still-warm linens on the floor beside you, that you realized just how exhausted you really were, the feeling made even worse by your now-full belly. You barely made it through folding two towels, a sheet, and a throw blanket before you were nodding off, body leaning heavily to the side in your comatose state and falling against the cushions. When you were once again awake, it was to a somewhat shadowed room and the pleasant warmth of a blanket surrounding your upper half that you must have somehow commandeered from your barely-there pile of folded items. 

How long had you been out? It looked like it was much later in the day, from what you could see out the window, yet no one seemed to be home yet. The clock on the wall said three, which meant you had at least another hour and a half before Toriel and Frisk made it home. 

You sat up and stretched with a small groan, feeling a bit groggy with the slightest hitch in your neck from the way you had slept, but otherwise really well rested despite having fallen asleep on the couch. In all honest, that was possibly the most consecutive hours of sleep you'd had in the past two weeks. 

The basket of linens was still beside you on the floor, almost taunting you for not being able to finish your task before passing out. You reached for them and began folding once more, slowly waking up to the familiar task as your mind wandered over work-related things. 

"hey there, buddy." 

Startled, you jumped and gave a rather undignified squeak at the deeper voice coming from your left. You looked over and chanced a small glare at the shorter skeleton looking at you, his fixed grin seeming a bit wider than usual. 

"heh, sorry, didn't mean to make you, uh, _jump out of your skin._ " 

"Sans! Jeez, you nearly gave me a heart attack, I swear!" you groaned, hand held to your chest as if the motion alone would calm your poor, anxiously beating heart. This only served to rise a chuckle out of Sans. 

"I'm serious! One of these days, I'm gonna keel over, and it'll...it's gonna...be...." 

Your words trailed off suddenly as you got a better look at Sans, just now noticing his lack of a blue hoodie. It was warm in the house, sure, but not overly so, and even during the summer months, you'd never seen him without his signature overcoat, until now. 

In hindsight, it was bound to happen, eventually. 

It was just...shocking, actually, to see him without the light coat, just casually traipsing around in a loose white tank. And it was even more of a surprise to see just how skeletal he was. 

Okay, yeah, that sounded dumb. Sans was a skeleton, after all, so it shouldn't have been so surprising to know that, duh, he was completely made up of bones. But the blue hoodie he wore was part of him, a feature that had always screamed _Sans_ whenever you saw a hint of the color out of the corner of your eye. It had only crossed your mind maybe twice that it was actually removeable, and even then, you hadn't prepared yourself for the skeletal Monster to actually be comfortable enough around you to rid himself of it, at least not so soon. 

Was a year too soon? It certainly felt that maybe it was. 

"you, uh, you like what you see, sweetheart?" 

Sans' words pulled you from your thought process, the white pinpricks within his eye sockets tiny and calculating as he found your gaze. He hadn't moved much from his position beside the dining room table, save for moving his hands into the pockets of his shorts. He seemed amused, actually, and- 

Oh. 

_Oh._

In that moment, you realized that you had been staring at him. Hard. 

Heat instantly rushed to your cheeks as you fought to explain yourself. 

"N-no! I mean, yes? Wait, shit, that's not...that isn't what I..." 

Oh great, now you were completely flustered and embarrassed beyond belief. You hadn't meant to stare at him in such a way. It was just so...surprising to see him without so much cover-up, to see more of his bones out in the open. And honestly, it wasn't like you hadn't seen a skeleton before, what with having a complete prop of one in your science classes in high school and college. There were images of them everywhere in everyday life, for crying out loud! But this was a living, breathing skeleton, which defied all sorts of logic and any sense whatsoever. He was a Monster from the Underground, a being in his own right. 

Somehow, seeing Sans more exposed, with his arm bones out and the tops of his ribcage just barely peeking over the large top he wore, it felt more intimate than it really should have. 

With a grimace, you hid your flushed face behind your hands, taking a moment to calm yourself and form your words into coherency. 

"I am so, so sorry, that was incredibly rude of me. It just...it caught me off-guard, seeing you in just...without your hoodie, I mean. I didn't mean to stare like that." 

"heh, don't sweat it," he replied almost nonchalantly, though you were just able to make out the fine sheen of sweat forming on his skull as you peeked at him through your fingers. The irony of his pun had eluded you, as you were too caught up in your own sudden bashfulness to actually pay attention. 

" _tibia_ honest, it's kinda cute, the way you get all flustered and stutter. Makes these old bones feel good, ya know?" 

This time, you were aware of the lame pun, though you could feel your cheeks tingle with heat at his following words. With an almost mortified keen, you pulled the blanket you'd been using during your rest up to your flushed face to hide in it. 

"Sans, cut it out!" 

You could hear his amused chuckle from where you'd seen him last, though you weren't sure you were enjoying the turn of events nearly as much as he was. The attention was nice; the embarassment, not so much. 

There was a gentle touch against your shoulder that had you pulling away from underneath your safe haven bashfully, your curious eyes finding that Sans had moved to stand in front of you and had a gentle hold on you. 

"hey, buddy, no need to hide from me. this spooky, scary skeleton's got nothin' but good intentions." 

He gave a wink of his eye socket, an anomaly you'd found silly yet endearing early on in your knowing him. Still, it made you smile and give a small giggle, which seemed to be what Sans was going for. He pulled his hand away and replaced it within his pocket, though the close proximity between you was kept. 

"I really am sorry. It was rude of me to stare like that. I was just...surprised, I guess. I've never seen you without your hoodie before." 

"does it bother you?" he asked, yet another fine sheen of sweat beginning to form right across Sans' brow bone, and for a horrified moment, you realized that maybe you had come off as uncomfortable with seeing him like he was, without any sort of cover-up. 

"N-no! No, please, don't...it doesn't bother me at all. I was just...I...ugh, I don't know how to explain it without it sounding weird." 

"well, if you wanna give it a try, i'm all ears." 

You gave a short sigh as you attempted to gather your thoughts, watching as you plucked nervously at some fluff stuck to the blanket in your lap. How did one go about explaining such a thing? 

"I know what skeletons look like. I mean, nearly every human does, because we all have one. Its common knowledge, and, hell, there are so many doctors and scientists that can probably name every bone in the human body. But to see you like this, to see parts of you that were hidden since the first time we met...it feels like I shouldn't be looking at all, like seeing your bones is, maybe, really personal? I don't know, maybe I'm just being silly." 

Sans didn't speak for a long time. You thought he might have left without you knowing, he had become so quiet. When you looked up, however, it was to twin pinpricks of white light staring at you in such _wonder...._

You startled just the slightest at the gentle touch of warm bone brushing against your cheek, your face tingling once again as heat gathered there and along the bridge of your nose. You stuttered out his name, attempted to say something else, but your words were lost to you in that moment. 

"did i mention how cute it is when you, ah, get all flustered? 'cause i like that. it's like your words are broken, and you can't put 'em back together quick enough. heh, adorable." 

Sans leaned forward then, the smooth surface of his teeth connecting with the same cheek he had touched moments before. He paused there for a second, almost nuzzling against your skin before pulling back with a blue flush against his cheek bones that rivaled your own and an even wider grin. 

Was that...was that his version of a kiss? 

Voices from outside had you turning anxiously in the direction of the front door just as Toriel walked through with Frisk and Papyrus following close behind, kind smile perking up at seeing you. 

"Hello, my child! I know we are home early, but I did not expect to see you until much later. Not that I am not glad you stayed, of course." 

"I...yeah, I sort of, uh, fell asleep, and-" 

"heh, sounds like a fun time." 

You turned once again at the sound of Sans' voice to find that he had moved back to standing beside the dining room table, hands tucked into the pockets of his...blue hoodie? When did he have the time to-? 

"SANS! You big lazy bones, where have you been all day?!" 

"what can i say?" he began with a shrug of his shoulders, "i had a _gut feeling_ i was needed somewhere else." 

You could practically feel the amused glare radiating from Papyrus at his brother's pun. 

"Oh my God, Sans, STOP!" 

"c'mon, bro, have a _heart!_ " 

"NYEHHH!! I hate that I'm smiling!" 

You listened to the brothers' banter in somewhat of a daze, once again finding your eyes on Sans. Well, more specifically, the blue coat now adorning his upper half. Why on earth did he put it back on when he- 

Oh, wow. 

How dense could you possibly be, today? 

Your poor face couldn't take much more blood rising to its surface. It was a wonder your brain hadn't exploded with the sheer pressure of it, coupled with how dopey you were feeling at finally putting all the pieces together. 

He had planned the whole thing. 

A gentle pat against your cheek had you looking directly at a concerned Frisk, who seemed to be focused on your heated skin as Sans continued to pester his brother with bad puns, much to Toriel's delight. You had to take a moment to breathe deeply to calm your frazzled nerves. 

"I'm fine," you assured the child with a brighter than normal smile, the intent behind it quite genuine. You cast your eyes over to Sans for a moment, one socket closed as the other beamed up at his fuming, though secretly amused, brother. He must have felt your gaze and suddenly had his content stare on you. Maybe it was the way the light was reflecting off his coat, but you swore you could just see the start of a blue-tinted blush along his cheekbones. 

In hindsight, it was bound to happen, eventually.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you all so much for reading! I've got a full-fledged story in the making, though no promises on when that's going to be out. But I'm really getting into the Undertale community and hope you guys stick around long enough for me to vent out my obsession with silly skeletons and exciteable Monsters.
> 
> As always, I'll see ya around in the next fic!


End file.
